Northampton sisters make it to front page of Kickstarter with campaign to publish their debut novels

Two sisters from Northampton have made it to the front pages of Kickstarter in a campaign to get both of their first books into print.

Kirsten and Aiyven Mbawa might be Northampton's youngest authors. At just 12 and 10-years-old, they have each written their own debut novel for young adults - and now they hope to share their work across the country.

Youngest sister Aiyven said: "We've always really liked reading and it always encouraged us to write our own stories too. Eventually, we just decided to write our own books, just for fun."

Kirsten said: "It's fun to create our own different worlds and make new characters and let our minds run wild.

"We entered the BBC Radio 500 Words contest, and what we wrote there has really grown into our books today."

Now, after months of hard work, the girls have started a campaign on crowdfunding website Kickstarter to get both of their books into print and hopefully onto the shelves of shops across the county.

Kirsten's book, Sagas of Anya, tells the story of a young girl in Victorian times whose perfect life goes on a downward spiral after a family tragedy, leading her to leave her comfortable life and work in London as a maid for the nasty Mrs Axton.

Aiyven has written Land of the Nurogons, a fantasy adventure about four teenagers who fall into a strange world and must take on a quest to save the strange people who live there.

But the girls' campaign has made a big impact online. Their books have made it onto the "Projects We Love" page on Kickstarter where they have been seen by thousands of people across the world.

Now, at time of writing (March 5), the girls have raised more than £3,000 of the £5,000 they need to go to print - and still have nine days to go.

Aiyven said: "It would make us both really happy to reach our goal. I would just be really happy to have that sort of publicity too.

"I'd really like to make my book into a series one day. I'll take a break if we make our Kickstarter money but I'd like to go back to the Land of the Nurogens."

"I'd don't think I'd make Sagas of Anya a series," said Kirsten. "But I'd really like it if it became a TV series one day.

"We want to have a massive party with loads of sweets if we get out books published."

To see the girls' Kickstarter campaign, visit their webpage. The sisters also love to share their passion for reading with their book review YouTube channel.